Cappadocia has a magnificent landscape shaped entirely by erosion. The Göreme valley and its surroundings contain sacred sites carved into the rocks, providing unique evidence of Byzantine art in the post-Iconoclastic period. Dwellings, primitive villages and underground towns, which are the remains of a traditional human habitat dating back to the 4th century, can also be seen here. It is located on the Central Anatolian plateau, within a volcanic landscape that has been shaped by erosion to form a series of mountain ridges and valleys. Göreme National Park and Cappadocia Rock Areas cover the region between the cities of Nevşehir, Ürgüp and Avanos, Karain, Karlık, Yeşilöz, Soğanlı areas and Kaymaklı and underground cities. Derinkuyu. The region is bordered to the south and east by extinct volcano ranges, with Mount Erciyes (3916 m) at one end and Hasan Mountain (3253 m) at the other. The density of rock-cut cells, churches, primitive human villages and underground cities within the rock formations makes it one of the most striking and largest cave settlement complexes in the world. Although interesting from a geological and ethnological point of view, the unique beauty of the decoration of Christian sanctuaries makes Cappadocia one of the leading examples of the post-iconoclastic Byzantine artistic period.
It is believed that the first signs of monastic activity in Cappadocia date back to the 4th century. During this period, small communities of monks, acting according to the teachings of Basil the Great, Bishop of Kayseri, began to live in cells carved into the rock. In later periods, they began to gather in primitive villages or underground towns that served as shelters, such as Kaymaklı or Derinkuyu, to resist Arab invasions. Cappadocian monasticism was already well established in the iconoclastic period (725-842); This is reflected in the decoration of many sacred sites, which includes minimal symbols (mostly statues or tempera-painted crosses). However, after 842 many rupestral churches were excavated in Cappadocia and were richly decorated with brightly colored figurative paintings. Among those in Göreme Valley are Tokalı Church and El Nazar Church (10th century), St. There are the Barbara Church and the Saklı Church (11th century) and the Elmalı Church and the Dark Church (late 12th – early 13th century). Criteria: Due to their quality and density, the rupestral sanctuaries of Cappadocia constitute a unique artistic achievement, offering irreplaceable testimonies to the post-iconoclastic Byzantine artistic period. Rupestral dwellings, villages, monasteries and churches preserve the fossilized image of a province of the Byzantine Empire from the 4th century until the arrival of the Seljuk Turks (1071). Therefore, they are the basic remains of a vanished civilization.